Apple's Jobs: Blu-ray May Be Beaten By Internet Downloads

[admin]

A reader of MacRumors recently posted an email response from Apple boss Steve Jobs when he was asked why the new Mac minis did not include a Blu-ray drive. Jobs response was that he feels Blu-ray will eventually be beaten by Internet media downloads and streaming, much like how the high definition audio formats all eventually fell against "inferior" MP3s.

Jobs also believes that online based streaming and rental services will ensure local storage, or storage/backup on high capacity discs such as Blu-ray, won't be so important in the long term. He believes the success of downloads has to do with "free, instant gratification and convenience".

Steve Jobs previously called Blu-ray a "bag of hurt" in relation to the confusing and expensive licensing schemes present.

More:

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/30/steve-jobs-suggests-blu-ray-not-coming-to-mac-anytime-soon/

[dr_ml422]

I have to give Steve his props for staying true to himself since day one. We discussed this before in the forum how streaming and rental services would most likely eventually catch up asa the speed and bandwidth issues are straightened out.

I don't know if it will totally replace Blu-ray as I've just begun to experience the PS3 and yet to play a Blu-ray flic. I do know however from reading several posts, threads, and talking with other regular forum members all over that the Blu-ray Blanks are still worthless and too pricey. The one thing that keeps coming up is that they still haven't been able to hold data etc... after a small time period.

How do you see this panning out? I'm all in for something solid to replace the physical disc because of the storage space issues. As of yet though there doesn't seem to be a real sure solution except for HDDs and such. They too are a good choice as they've come down so much in price lately. I've started this already but I still need the physical disc iykwim.

Oh, and I'm not worrying about whether Blu-ray fails. The PS3 does so much besides that it still is very much worth it. If Blu-ray was it's only option I and prolly many others wouldn't of even bothered purchasing one.

[drfsupercenter]

That's just Steve Jobs being a moron and not wanting to upgrade his products.

Confusing licensing? iTunes FairPlay anyone? Hello?!

[admin]

Jobs sees Blu-ray as a competitor to the iTunes way of doing business, and he basically said so in the email, so it's understandable why Apple won't embrace the format, despite them being on the board of directors of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Blu-ray on the PC isn't exactly doing a lot of business at the moment, so Apple has nothing to gain by adding Blu-ray to Macs, and I don't think there's a huge demand for it at all. And I don't think the Blu-ray format really needs support from computer companies to succeed, since it's primary focus is still very much the home theater crowd.

One can always get an external Blu-ray drive and boot into Windows to get Blu-ray movies fully working "on a Mac".

[dr_ml422]

I knew there had to be a method to Steve's madness. I haven't read up on how the Blu-ray Drives and Discs are fairing PC wise except that the blanks are still way out of decent quality reach.

You mentioned before how you didn't understand why new PCs/Laptops all didn't come with a Blu-ray drive pre-installed as the costs have come down. Is the lack of any Blu-ray activity as you mentioned above one of the reasons manufacturers have not gone all in? Or is the lack of them not being implemented causing this?